Man held for forcing woman to convert for marriage: Police

DEHRADUN: A 25-year-old man was arrested in Dehradun district for allegedly forcing a 22-year-old woman to convert and marry him, police said.

The woman’s father also levelled allegations of extortion and criminal intimidation against the accused, police said.

On Sunday late evening, an FIR in this regard was registered against Faizal, a resident of Mehuwala Khalsa under Vikas Nagar police station, under sections 3 and 4 of the Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act 2018, and 383 (extortion) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on the complaint of the woman’s father.

In the complaint, a copy of which HT has seen, the woman’s father said, “My daughter met with the accused through social media. The accused identified himself as a Hindu. And he (the accused) told my daughter that he owns a hotel in Goa. When my daughter became close to the accused, she went to meet his parents at the given address. There, she came to know the accused is actually a Muslim and works as a daily wage labourer in Kerala.”

The complainant further said, “Threatening to release my daughter’s obscene photo, the accused forced her to convert to his religion and marry him. The accused even blackmailed her and threatened to kill her.”’

At the time of writing the copy, the accused was being produced in a Dehradun court.

Sub-inspector Arjun Singh Gusain of Vikas Nagar police station, the investigating officer of the case, said, “We have arrested the accused. He is being produced in a local court.”

On November 30 last year, the Uttarakhand assembly had passed an amendment bill titled “Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act 2022” to strengthen the anti-conversion law in the state. On November 18, chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had termed religious conversion as “nasoor” (canker) for the state.